Valuation exhibitor



April Z9, 1941. M. E. HQLME 2,239,819

VALUATION EXHIBITOR Filed June '7, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1| a ||l| |llL. I Html Il I.. u Mfl.

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.f f1 gli@ TOMATO VITA HD( C ATTORNEKM Y Aprilr 29, 1941. M. E. HQLME 2,239,819

VALUATION EXHIBITOR Filed Jun 7, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIM; f2 F14/.1o F194 1 f j 7 f5 21 Fig/.8 K F14. 9

K INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 29, 1941 UNITE-D-v STATES PATENT OFFICE k ,92,239,8,19v f vALUA'1I01-SI.z EXHIBIT@ Mary E. Holme, C'arlinvlle, Ill.

Application June 7, 1940, Serial No. 339,403y

4 Claims.

My invention relates. to a valuation exhibitor and has fory` its principal object to exhibit the units of vitamins contained. in different food substancejor with respect tov fluctuating values on the stock exchange, also other subject matter for ldiscussion in educational pur-poses or lectures.

A further object of my invention is to provide in the construction of the mechanism a housing and a series of elongated lamps vertically disposed in the housing, and means including a motor to raise and lower the lamps selectively, to conceal the same or par-ts thereofwhen illuminated.

A still further object of my invention is to provide on 'the front of the housing a series of card holders, the holders being positioned to associate with their respectivelamps and aligned therewith, and furthermore, each lamp being provided with a flexible transparent jacket having graduations and numerals printed thereon coacting with the indicia on its respective card.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an independent control for the movement of-v each lamp and means to retain the lamps at a selected exposure, andl the same means vto retract the'lamps to their normally concealed position in the housing. f

A still further object of' my invention is to provide a mechanism that the units thereof may be repeated to increase the width off the mechanism whereby a multiplicity of the units will function vat their upper extremity to define the usual fluctuations indicated on a curve chart by varying the vertical extension of the lamps inv consecutive order, in which instance, the jackets may be omitted.

These and other objects will hereinafter be more fully explained, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like characters will apply to like partsl in the different views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the exhibitor.

Fig. lA is an enlarged view of a card having a sample of indicia printed thereon.

Fig.. 2 is a top plan view ofFig. 1

Fig, 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 3-3 in Fig, 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional` view taken on line 4 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side View of the Vslidable contact for-A 'the lamp, p-artlyvin section.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6?-6 ill-Fig. 4:; 4 l

Fig. 'l is a fragmentary rear view of the exhibitor, the housing being in section.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged side. view of the clutch, partly in section.

Fig. 9 is a wiring diagram for the electric control.

Fig. l0 is a fragmentary portion of ther jacket at the upper end thereof.

My invention herein disclosed consists of upper and lower rectangular frames I and L respectively, the lower frame having a plate 3 spaced inward from the front of the frame and another platey 4 spaced inward therefrom, said plates being in parallelism for the purpose later described. The said upper and lower.y frames are connected by a pair of channeled standards 5 oppositely disposed, the ends of which are.y secured to their respective frames by welding or otherwise, and the said frames thus assembled are closed by a housing 6. rectangular in cross section, the upper end of which is enclosed by a plate 'I having a plurality of rectangular openings adjacent the front wall through which elongated tubular lampsl 8. will move vertically from the housing for the. purpose later described. When said lamps are retracted as normally housed there is provided a top secured to hinges S' and 9 to seat on the rst named top as an enclosure for said rectangularr openings, being secured by straps I0 carried at the front edge thereof, and adapted to engage on balls I I placed on the front of the housing.

Each of said lampsK is carried between a pair of contact plates I2 at its oppositely disposed ends as circuit closing means for the lamps, the said contact elements being adapted to engage in an outlet box I3 as connecting means foran electric circuit, and the said outlet boxes being connected to a conduit pipe I4 that extends longitudinally of the lamp in parallelism therewith, functioning as a carriage therefor, and being guided in its vertical movement by a pair of rods I5 spaced apart to avoid turningmovementofv the Carriage as the said rods are engaged inthe apertures of a bar. I Ethrough which the rods extend. The said rods aref secured at their lower` extremity to plate l` while the upper ends are secured to the front member of the rectangular frame, said apertured bary L6 being secured to the lower extremity.` of the conduit pipey and adjacent the box.

To insure electric contact for the lamps` in their.r vertical movement there isprovided a pair of arms Il `for the lamps to slidably engageon rods- I 8, onearm. bei-ng securedxto the lower-con tact plate I2 while the other arm is secured to an electric wire I9 extending through the conduit pipe and connecting with the upper contact plate of the lamp. The said rods are spaced apart in parallelism with the lamp, the lower ends of the rods being secured to plate 3 while the upper ends are secured to extending bars 2U Welded to the upper rectangular frame, it being understood that the rods I8 are insulated from the housing by insulating cups 2| positioned in sockets 22 as supports for the ends of said rods. Connected to each rod as at A is an electric wire 23 which extends to a source of power supply whereby current is supplied for the lamp, and the arms each having a brush 24 to slidably engage on its respective rod longitudinally as its respective lamp is raised and lowered, by which l arrangement closing of the circuit is maintained to illuminate the lamps.

Trunnioned in the standards is a shaft 25 spaced upward from the lower ends of the standards, said shaft having spaced therealong a plurality of magnetic clutches, there being one clutch for each lamp for the purpose of raising and lowering the lamp through the medium of a belt 26 for each lamp, the belts being tensioned vertically by engaging on idlers 21 that are trunnioned on shafts 28, said shafts being secured to the upper and lower frames respectively, as shown in Fig. 3 whereby the idlers for each lamp are free to rotate independent of adjacent idlers. The said belt being secured to the apertured bar I6 is means to carry the lamp vertically in the f movement of the belt, said belt being wound in an annular groove 29 on the clutch hub 30, said vclutch comprised of a magnetic field 3| through which the shaft 25 extends and free to rotate therein, the magnetic field being retained stationarily by a bar 32 as carried by the frame, it being understood that the magnetic attraction is through the medium of the magnet head adjacent the flange 33 integral with said hub 30, and a portion of the hollow of the hub being convergent toward its outer end to engage on a conical element 34, secured to the shaft, coinciding with said convergence.

It will be seen that the flanged hub is retained against rotation by its respective belt until the magnet attracts the hub theretoward, causing frictional engagement with the conical element, which in turn will cause rotation with the shaft to raise and lower its respective elongated lamp, the rotation of said shaft being actuated by an electric motor 35 mounted on a bracket 36 that is rigidly secured to the lower frame member, said motor being of a reversible type so that the said lamps may be raised or lowered thereby. When the current for the magnet is broken, the clutch will automatically release due to its conical formation, the tendency of which is to separate as the shaft turns. It will also be seen that a sheave 31 is secured to said shaft 25 and is engaged by a belt 38 that is engaged by a motor sheave 39. The unit referred to in the last object consists of an elongated lamp and an idler adjacent the upper and lower end of the lamp when the lamp is normally concealed within the housing, also a magnetic clutch and a belt connecting the clutch with the idlers, and the said belt being attached to the lamp adjacent its lower end as raising and lowering means for the lamp therefor, and a switch for the clutch to make and break the circuit of the clutch control.

The electric-current` for the mechanism is respective lamp.

through the medium of a cable 40 appropriately connected to the circuit controls for the mechanism, the free end of the cable having a standard plug 4| as connecting means to a source of electric current, when so closed is means to illuminate all of said lamps simultaneously, there being another cable 42 in which the circuit wires are contained for the remote controls, the circuits being controlled by a series of push buttons positioned in a box element 43 arranged therefor, said box also carrying a motor reverse switch 44, the purpose of which is to raise or lower the lamps by directional rotation of the motor selectively, while the push button control for example is as follows: to energize the motor, button 45 is compressed inward, at which instance the lamp is raised to a desired extension from the housing by compressing its respective button and retained at such extension by releasing the button, the point of extension at the intersection of the housing will be the units of vitamins in food substance disclosed on a card adjacent its The units 'referred to are placed on a transparent jacket 46, in which the lamp is insertible, said jacket being the entire length .of the lamp, removably and interchangeably arranged. For example the word tomato juice and vitamin C may be printed on the card as shown in Fig. 1A associated with its respective lamp as above stated, while the jacket of said lamp is graduated in order from the top downward, the numerals being from 1 to 100, whereby when the lamp is raised to bring in view numeral 50 said numeral will indicate the number of units of vitamin C contained in grams of tomato juice as compared with the number of units of vitamin C contained in a different food vof equal weight to that of the tomato juice, the

ratio value between the various foods being understood by the teacher of pupils, and the said card may be labeled as vitamin A in lieu of vitamin C, in which case, the number of vitamin units will vary from vitamin C and the lamp raised accordingly with respect to the number of such vitamin contained in the juice and so on throughout a series of food substances indicated by their respective cards and jackcted lamps, and the said lamps being illuminated is means to clearly disclose numerals placed on the jackets, and furthermore various colored lamps may be used to distinguish for a subject under discussion.

Referring to the wiring diagram it will be assumed that all lamps are illuminated simultaneously by the connection of plug 4| with a source of an electric current, and by the closing of switch 45, current will be supplied to motor 35 which in turn will actuate the shaft, the direction of rotation of said shaft being controlled by reverse switch 44 connected in the circuit for the motor. Then, for example, as shown in Fig. 9, when press button switch B is closed, its respective clutch 3| will be engaged with the shaft whereby as the shaft is turned lamp B will be raised or lowered, selectively, as controlled by switch 44, and so on for the movement of the other lamps by the action of their respective clutches and switches.

Such modifications with respect to the elements involved in the structure may be made as lie within the scope of the appended claims.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a valuation exhibitor of the class de- Vscribed comprising upper and lower rectangular frames, standards oppositely disposed to connectthe frames, a shaft trunnioned on the standards near the center thereof longitudinally, a sheave secured to the shaft, a motor carried by the lower frame and a belt connecting said sheave and sheave of the motor as turning means for the shaft, a plurality of magnetic elements spaced along the shaft and means to secure the same rigid and against rotation with the shaft, a friction clutch adjacent each magnet and being spaced therefrom to avoid contact with the head of the magnet when the clutch is attracted theretoward for its frictional engagement with an element on the shaft, thereby rendering the clutch rotatable with the shaft, and the clutch having a grooved hub to engage a belt, and an electric switch as a ycontrol for each magnet, an elongated electric lamp and carriage therefor for each clutch, a pair of guide rods for the carriage, vertically disposed and in parallelism with the lamp, the ends of the rods being secured to the upper and lower frames, respectively, as guiding means for the vertical movement of the lamp carriage, and a pair of rods for each lamp carriage to function as electrodes and being insulated from the frame at each end thereof, the rods being in parallelism with the lamp, a brush for each rod as closing means for an electric circuit and slidable on the rod as the lamp carriage moves vertically, belting means 'connecting each clutch element to the lamp carriage to raise and lower the same, and a switch to control the vertical movement of the lamps to wholly or partially extend the same from the top frame member, said member being apertured for each lamp to slidably engage therethrough a card for each lamp, said cards having indici-a printed thereon, means to carry the same in close relation to their respective lamps, a jacket for each lamp movable therewith, said jacket having graduations and numerals printed thereon to coact with the indicia of the cards substantially as specified, the indicia of the jackets being intensified when the lamps are lighted and visually discernible as the lamps protrude from the upper frame, and a source of electric power for the electrically controlled elements of the exhibitor.

2. In a valuation exhibitor, a frame, a housing for the frame, a plurality of jacketed elongated electric lamps carried by the frame, each jacket having indicia printed thereon and spaced apart longitudinal of the jacket, said lamps and jackets being concealed by the housing, the housing having an aperture through the top of the housing in registry with its respective jacketed lamps, and

power means to extend the jacketed lamps selectively outward through their respective aperture to exhibit a selected indicia and the said power means to retract the lamps into the housing.

3. In a valuation exhibitor, a frame, -a plurality of lamps, and a transparent jacket to enclose each lamp, said jacket having indi-cia aligned and spaced apart longitudinally of the jacket, an electric motor carried by the frame, a shaft trunnioned in the frame and being turned by the motor, a belt for each lamp and a pair of idle pulleys spaced apart vertically to carry the belt looped therearound, one side of the loop serving as carrying means for the lamp, means on the shaft to engage the other side for reciprocating movement thereof by vertically clockwise and anti-clockwise movement of the motor, a source of electric energy to illuminate the lamps and turn the mo-tor, a switch to control the directional turn of the motor, and other switches in -coaction therewith to raise and lower the lamps, selectively, and a housing to enclose the lamps and conceal the light rays therefrom as downwardly positioned in the,l housing, the housing having an opening aligned with each lampi and through which the lamp will engage reciprocatingly.

4. In va valuation exhibitor, a frame, a shaft transversely crossing the frame intermediate the ends thereof and trunnion therein, a pulley secured to the shaft, a motorand a belt as turning means for the shaft, a plurality of magnetic clutch elements positioned on the shaft and spaced therealong, a pair of shafts, one being rigidly secured to the frame near its upper extremity, the other being rigidly secured at the lower extremity, each being in parallelism with the rst named shaft, a plurality of idle pulleys trunnioned on each of last said shafts and being vertically aligned in pairs, each pair being aligned with their respective clutch elements, a plurality of elongated tubular jackets vertically positioned in the frame and having indicia placed thereon and spaced therealong, each jacket being adjacent its respective pair of pulleys and means to illuminate the jackets their entire length, a belt to engage on each said aligned pair of pulleys to move vertically its respective jacket reciprocatingly, said belts being wound on their respective .clutch elements as actuating means for the belts, a source of electric power to energize the clutch elements, selectively, to raise and lower the jackets, and a housing for the frame as concealing means for the jackets when normally lowered to their extremity.

MARY E. HOLME. 

